Kirsten
09-19-2003, 12:51 PM
Solo's Journey by Joy Smith Aiken
"From Publishers Weekly
The territory held by old feline warrior Dom Bryndle, called a Quorum, is home to a well-disciplined tribe of feral stray cats and one wet-bottomed kitten named Solo. On the other side of the Great Fence live the Owners, a carelessly cruel breed useful mainly for the "grail" they discard, for the ferals have forgotten the ways of wild cats and come to depend on the Owners for survival. Solo feels the tug of the old ways, and heeding the voice that speaks within him, he reluctantly accepts the mantle of leadership. After saving his fellow Quorum members from the final depredations of the Owners, he leads them on a perilous journey to a promised land where all can live free and wild. Although it clearly follows in the footsteps of Watership Down, this slim first novel is so syrupy-sweet as to be almost indigestible. Aiken develops an imaginative language for her characters to speak, but stops short before creating an equally clever animal society, relying instead on a model that comes uncomfortably close to America in the 1950s.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc."
I have read it for the second time now (the first time was in the 80s), and I'm really amazed how quickly you adjust to see the world through a cat's eyes.... In fact, every time I was reading books like that, I find it harder to read books from the human perspective after that! LOL Maybe I was a feline in a former life! LOL
However, this story almost makes you feel bad to live with cats and force them to live in your environment, because the author is so much propagandizing cats should live totally independent from humans, in the wild.. Unfortunately, we all know this isn't so easy these days...
But it's so easy to fall in love with the little hero Solo and all his friends, and you start missing them when you've finished reading the book... :)
Does anyone know this book? And if not, did you read any other books from a cat's perspective?
Kirsten
"From Publishers Weekly
The territory held by old feline warrior Dom Bryndle, called a Quorum, is home to a well-disciplined tribe of feral stray cats and one wet-bottomed kitten named Solo. On the other side of the Great Fence live the Owners, a carelessly cruel breed useful mainly for the "grail" they discard, for the ferals have forgotten the ways of wild cats and come to depend on the Owners for survival. Solo feels the tug of the old ways, and heeding the voice that speaks within him, he reluctantly accepts the mantle of leadership. After saving his fellow Quorum members from the final depredations of the Owners, he leads them on a perilous journey to a promised land where all can live free and wild. Although it clearly follows in the footsteps of Watership Down, this slim first novel is so syrupy-sweet as to be almost indigestible. Aiken develops an imaginative language for her characters to speak, but stops short before creating an equally clever animal society, relying instead on a model that comes uncomfortably close to America in the 1950s.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc."
I have read it for the second time now (the first time was in the 80s), and I'm really amazed how quickly you adjust to see the world through a cat's eyes.... In fact, every time I was reading books like that, I find it harder to read books from the human perspective after that! LOL Maybe I was a feline in a former life! LOL
However, this story almost makes you feel bad to live with cats and force them to live in your environment, because the author is so much propagandizing cats should live totally independent from humans, in the wild.. Unfortunately, we all know this isn't so easy these days...
But it's so easy to fall in love with the little hero Solo and all his friends, and you start missing them when you've finished reading the book... :)
Does anyone know this book? And if not, did you read any other books from a cat's perspective?
Kirsten